Namibia among ‘22 hot destinations’ during 2018

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Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Namibia is among the Bloomberg’s “22 destinations that will be especially hot this year” and recommended during 2018. The others are St. Kitts, Jordan, Dundee Scotland, Georgia, Cambodia, Chilean Patagonia, Abu Dhabi, Borneo, Singapore, Slovenia, Los Angeles, Florence, Fiji, South Korea, Salvador in Brazil, Washington in USA, Los Cabos of Mexico, New Orleans in USA, Southern Tanzania, Copenhagen, and Tunisia.
Editors for Bloomberg Pursuits, in a piece published on 2 January, recommend that visitors to Namibia consider going in the period starting “from June to October, [when] game viewing around Namibia’s waterholes is some of the best in Africa”.
“There’s more to Namibia than the otherworldly dunes of Sossusvlei or the scorched plains of Deadvlei you’ve seen in National Geographic. But with little tourism infrastructure in this vast, final frontier of Africa, it’s been difficult until now to see it all,” editors Nikki Ekstein, James Gaddy, Justin Ocean, and Chris Rovzar wrote.
“Plenty of cities are always worth a visit. But when destinations are in the midst of an evolution—bursting with new, standard-setting hotels and restaurants, or chock-full of new cultural attractions—you can expect a spark of electricity in the air,” wrote the editors. “The alchemy of being in the right place at the right time is exactly what transforms a good vacation into a great one. You’ve got the vacation days. Here’s how to use them,” they wrote.
These are some of the country write-ups:
Southern Tanzania: Watching the Great Migration in the Serengeti is such a popular bucket-list trip that the region can feel as saturated with binoculars-toters, as it is with thundering wildebeest. Head to Southern Tanzania’s Selous and Ruaha game reserves, however, and you can spend a week without seeing another safari vehicle. What you’ll find instead is the largest giraffe population in the country, along with one-tenth of Africa’s lion population.
Chilean Patagonia: Antarctica may get all the attention, but the southern Patagonian ice fields are gradually melting, too. Luckily, there are several new avenues for travellers who want to get there sooner rather than later. On the shores of Lake Llanquihue is Hotel Awa — a marvel of concrete and glass that adds to the country’s collection of remote, contemporary luxury hotels. It makes a great home base for fly fishing, hikes up snow-capped Osorno volcano, and authentic cultural encounters with indigenous communities.
Borneo: Sitting north of Jakarta and east of Singapore is lushly forested Borneo, home to most of the planet’s 120 000 remaining orangutans. Unlike its neighbours, the third-largest island in the world (Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia all lay claim to parts of it) has yet to register on the traditional tourist map.
That’s changing, though, as wildlife enthusiasts race to see these sweet-faced primates before their population declines any further.
Abu Dhabi: If Dubai comes off as the Las Vegas of the Middle East, Abu Dhabi is making a play to be the region’s Paris.
The emirate’s new crown jewel is the billion-dollar Louvre Abu Dhabi where, beneath a latticed steel dome by Pritzker Prize-winner Jean Nouvel, you’ll find 7th century Qurans, 20th century Picassos, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi—yes, the one that recently sold for US$450 million.
Singapore: The city-state once famous for its ban on chewing gum is loosening its necktie. Coming off 2017, it claims six of the World’s 50 best bars, 47 Michelin stars, and US$2.4 billion in new technology investments — in other words, the city is red-hot. New Era Reporter 2018-01-05 09:26:42 10 months ago